A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, on Thursday, sentenced a suspect, Okwo Mark, to three months in prison for impersonating an American citizen, Stella Coleman, working as an FBI agent.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the defendant who perpetrated the crime was arraigned by the EFCC.
Mark pleaded guilty to the charge and begged the court for leniency.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Aliyu Shafa, sentenced Mark to three months imprisonment or to pay a fine of N50,000.
The judge also ordered Mark to clean the EFCC office from 8am till noon under the supervision of an official of the legal department.
He ordered that the phone used by the convict to perpetrate the crime be destroyed, adding that it should be burnt and evidence of the destruction should be brought before the court.
“I have carefully listened to the plea of allocutus made by the said convict and the defence counsel.
“The rate of internet fraud especially among youths in the society is so alarming and the court will not allow the convict to go unpunished as this will serve as a deterrent to others that want to toll the same path,” he ruled.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Shafa ordered that the proceeds from the crime which was $500 be returned to the nominal complainant and the receipt brought back to the court as evidence as this will help to portray the country well.
Earlier, the convict had pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that he would not indulge in such an act again.
The defence counsel, Ms B.E. Danjuma, in support of the allocutus by the convict, told the court that Mark, who had no previous conviction record in Nigeria, was remorseful and repentant.
She said, “Mark is a young man who was cut up with bad company. He is just 21 years old with a promising future. He regrets the consequences of his act.
“The convict has shown remorse and genuinely repented over the crime he has committed against the nation, by way of expressing genuine repentance, he has restituted the proceeds of the crime which is the sum of 500 U.S dollars. The convict is a first-time offender. We urge my Lord to temper justice with mercy,” she pleaded.
The EFCC counsel, M.M.Gwani, told the court that Mark, sometime in 2022, within the jurisdiction of the court, cheated.
Gwani said the convict deceived while pretending to be an American citizen, Stella Coleman, working as an FBI agent.
He said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 320 of the Penal Code Act Law of the Federation (Abuja) 1990 and was punishable under Section 322 of the same Act.
He pleaded with the court that the instrument used for the crime be forfeited and the proceeds returned.
